Why Are These Walkers Just Standing There in Dead City S2E7 — Are They Asleep?

If you thought you’d seen every kind of walker The Walking Dead universe could throw at us, Dead City just reminded us why we should never get too comfortable. In Season 2, Episode 7, Negan’s solo mission to save Ginny took a haunting turn inside a place that’s already terrifying on its own: a hospital.

The Silent Room Full of Eyes

Desperate to find antibiotics for Ginny’s worsening infection, Negan makes his way to the ruins of Bellevue Hospital. But what he finds inside is something that stops even him in his tracks — a room full of children. Not living children, not the dead ones charging at you… something else entirely.

They were standing still. Wide-eyed. Breathing? Maybe. Moving? Not at all. The subtitles described them as “dormant walkers,” and the effect was downright chilling. Negan had to tiptoe his way around them like a man walking across a minefield, each step risking an eruption of teeth and screams. But none of them lunged. Not yet.

Lurkers, Not New — But Rarely This Disturbing

Fans of The Walking Dead know this isn’t the first time we've seen these eerily quiet threats. Way back in the original series’ pilot, when Rick first walked into a nearly silent Atlanta, these “lurkers” were already part of the world — lying in wait, not dead, not quite undead.

Robert Kirkman’s comics gave us the term “lurkers” to describe walkers that remain inactive until something — or someone — triggers them. Aaron brought the term into the show in Season 11 when he explained the difference between “roamers” and “lurkers.” It’s that second group Negan faced — and their unpredictability is what makes them so terrifying.

The Bite That Changed Everything

This type of walker already left its mark on the franchise in one of the most brutal scenes from Season 3. Remember Hershel’s leg? That was thanks to a lurker that waited until the perfect moment to strike. One second it looked like a corpse, the next it was tearing into his ankle. No warnings. No growls. Just pain and panic.

Why Dead City's Version Hits Different

There’s something especially unsettling about seeing dormant walkers portrayed as children. Dead City didn’t lean on action here. It leaned on silence — and that silence screamed. These weren’t background threats or throwaway zombies. The way the scene was shot, the pacing, the atmosphere — it all felt like something out of a horror film more than a zombie show.

Final Thoughts

This episode proves once again that The Walking Dead universe still has new tricks up its sleeve. "Dormant walkers" (lurkers) might not be a fresh idea, but Dead City made them feel terrifying again — especially when Negan, of all people, had to move like a man on eggshells just to survive the quiet.

We’ll be watching closely to see if this version of lurkers becomes more central moving forward.